Delaware’s coaching change in women’s basketball has cost the Blue Hens a top recruit.

Kate Cain, the 6-foot-5 center from Pine Bush (N.Y.) High, has reopened her recruiting, said her high school coach Bill Lacovara.

She is now considering Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, Virginia, Dayton and Oklahoma, he said.

Cain, who signed with Delaware last fall, averaged 25 points, 22 rebounds and eight blocks per game as a senior this past season and was touted as the Colonial Athletic Association’s No. 1 recruit by All-Star Girls Report. Delaware released Cain from her National Letter of Intent.

Tina Martin retired as Delaware coach April 28 – she has since been hired as an assistant at CAA rival UNC-Wilmington – and former Georgetown coach Natasha Adair is the new Delaware coach. Adair was unavailable for comment Thursday.

“She loved those people who were there before and was so disappointed,” Lacovara said of the coaching change. “They were in on her as a freshman and she committed early. She had other offers – from Syracuse and Minnesota – but she declined because she really wanted to go to Delaware . . . It was very difficult for her.”

While it isn’t unusual for recruits to look elsewhere after a coaching switch, two other signees -- 6-foot-3 Erin Antosh, from Lawrence Academy and Townsend, Massachusetts, and 6-2 Lizzie O’Leary from Abington (Pa.) – are listed on Delaware’s roster.

Hens lose top catcher

While Delaware was pleased recent St. Mark’s grad Billy Sullivan’s decided to stick with the Blue Hens rather than sign with the Phillies, who chose the pitcher in the 28th round last week, the Hens did lose a top prospect.

Catcher Anthony Peroni, who was headed to Delaware after starring two seasons at Mercer County (N.J.) Community College, signed with the Washington Nationals this week. The 14th-round pick batted .401 with 15 homers and 57 RBI this season.

Special football dates set

Delaware announced Wednesday its Parents Day football game will be Oct. 14 (William & Mary) and Homecoming on Oct. 21 (Richmond).

While Delaware set a 3:30 kickoff time for five of its six home games – the Thursday, Aug. 31, opener against Delaware State starts at 7 p.m. – some of those are likely to change when the Colonial Athletic Association announces its TV schedule. Last year, that announcement came June 22.

The Blue Hens’ other home games are Sept. 16 against Cornell, which is also Band Day, Sept. 30 against defending FCS champion James Madison, which is part of Hall of Fame weekend, and Nov. 11 versus Albany.

Two road kickoff times have been set so far – 3:30 for the Sept. 9 visit to Virginia Tech and 6 p.m. for Delaware’s first game at Stony Brook Oct. 7.

Tough slate for NCAA champs

Delaware announced a field hockey schedule Thursday befitting its status as defending NCAA champion.

The Blue Hens’ second game is at Louisville, which Delaware downed 1-0 in its NCAA Tournament opener. On Sept. 3, the Hens host Princeton, which they nipped 3-2 in the NCAA semifinals to avenge an earlier defeat.

Other nonconference games are against NCAA powers Penn State Sept. 17 at the Spooky Nook sports complex in Manheim, Pennsylvania, training base for the United States field hockey team, and at home Sept. 24 against Connecticut, the 2013 and 2014 NCAA champ that lost in the 2016 NCAA semifinals to North Carolina. Delaware toppled the Tar Heels 3-2 in the finals.

Hen scratch

Former Delaware quarterback Brian Ginn, who spent the last 17 seasons on the UD football staff under four different head coaches, will be the offensive coordinator at Newark High under coach Barry Zehnder, Ginn’s ex-Blue Hen teammate.

Delaware junior-to-be Greta Nauck, the 2016 Honda Award winner as national field hockey player of the year, will be honored with Honda winners in other sports, one of whom will be named the national winner, Monday in Los Angeles (CBS Sports Network at 9 p.m.).

Delaware head athletic trainer Dan Watson, a Newark High and UD grad, has earned a National Athletic Trainers’ Association 2017 Athletic Trainer Service Award, which recognizes those who’ve frequently volunteered their time in the community.

While the Delaware Volleyball Invitational, which had been a staple for 40 years, is not a part of the Blue Hens’ 2017 schedule recently announced, it is expected to return. Its absence resulted from the difficulty of arranging a schedule in the wake of Delaware’s coaching change.

Former Delaware assistant women’s basketball coach Tom Lochner has joined the staff of new Lafayette coach Kia Damon as an assistant.